The Government are “looking at” the potential of further changes to the DWP Winter Fuel Payment, worth up to £300 for some households.
The benefit was previously available to almost everyone in the UK born before September 25, 1957 to help cover their heating costs.
However, from this winter only those on Pension Credit or means-tested benefits will get the Winter Fuel Payment.
The Treasury said the changes would see the number of pensioners receiving the payments fall from 11.4 million to 1.5 million – so just under 10 million would miss out.
They added that about £1.5 billion will be saved per year by targeting winter fuel payments.
Now, Ministers are considering further changes to the payment, as they are “looking at” the lengthy form which pensioners must fill out to secure their winter fuel payments.
Pensioners face having to fill in a 243-question application to claim pension credit, which will unlock winter fuel payments of up to £300.
Pensions minister Emma Reynolds acknowledged the application process was “very long”, as she also faced calls to say whether an alleged pension credit claims backlog will be cleared “before older people start having to make the choice between heating and eating”.
Taking questions in the Commons on Monday, Ms Reynolds told the House: “We are looking at the form.
“Ninety percent of applicants now apply online but we know that the paper form is very long and we’re looking to see what we can do to simplify it.”
Responding to an earlier question by Conservative MP Rebecca Smith (South West Devon), Ms Reynolds told MPs: “The Government remains absolutely committed to supporting pensioners. We urge pensioners to check their eligibility for pension credit to ensure as many people as possible have access to the support which they are entitled to.”
Sarah Olney, the Liberal Democrat MP for Richmond Park, claimed the Department for Work and Pensions was “delaying releasing any more data” on pension credit applications.
She said: “I’m concerned that the Government knows it will not be able to process these applications on time and that this information is not being put into the public domain.
“So will the minister be able to tell me exactly how many pension credit applications have been submitted since September 16, and if the backlog will be cleared before older people start having to make the choice between heating and eating?”
Ms Reynolds said her department had redeployed 500 additional staff to help process the applications and replied to Ms Olney: “I gently say to her we are not delaying the publication of statistics and there will be a new set of statistics which will be published soon.”
The minister had earlier said “the department does not have a pension credit application target” but noted the Government had received around 74,400 pension credit claims in the eight weeks from the end of July to mid-September.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel